Mitigation Strategies and Solutions Topic: Energy Conservation By: Barry Auman Sci/275 The topic that selected is energy conservation because it is a big environmental problem that we need to work on to save the environment. This problem is very serious when energy is an expensive source and a very useful one. This problem causes environmental pollution and it needs to be reduced in order to make the earth a safer and healthier place. We all need to do our part to address this problem before it becomes worse.
Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption in order to preserve resources for the future and reduce environmental pollution. Energy efficiency is known as “the fifth fuel” and it can help the demand for energy just as coal, gas, oil or uranium can. The burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and nuclear plants generate life-threatening waste. The standard economic theory suggests that technological improvements increase energy efficiency, rather than reducing energy use.
This is called the Jevons Paradox and it can occur two ways. Increased energy efficiency makes the use of energy relatively cheaper, thus encouraging increased use. Increased energy efficiency leads to increased economic growth, which pulls up energy use in the whole economy. Electric motors consume more than 60% of all electrical energy generated and are responsible for the loss of 10 to 20% of all electricity converted into mechanical energy. It has also been shown that natural day lighting increases productivity levels of workers, while reducing energy consumption.
There are living and non-living factors that contribute to the problem of energy conservation. For example, a human, animal, or plant is a living factor and rock, cloud, or ocean is a non-living factor. The characteristics for living things are metabolism, growth, responsiveness to stimuli, self-maintenance, and reproduction. What separates the living from the non-living is the fact that life uses energy to maintain itself. Non-life cannot do this, and as a consequence it erodes, corrodes, and breaks down.
Humans and animals cannot manufacture their own energy and must receive it from other plants and animals. They obtain the energy that fuels their life-sustaining process by combining the food they eat with oxygen in a slow, controlled burn. When you break apart chemical bonds in food it releases energy. In the non-living world, energy can change from one kind to another. Living things need to continually acquire new energy and non-living things eventually run-down. Humans can also waste energy by leaving lights turned on that are not being used.
Energy is being wasted by all of the automobiles that are driven daily. The environment, plants, and animals are affected by the pollution caused from these problems because they live in areas that are affected. The plants and animals need to live in a safe environment to survive because the pollution is killing them. The pollution is also causing global warming. There are positive and negative behaviors with human impacts on energy conservation. There is a great cause of wasted energy by humans when they have dysfunctional settlement patterns.
There are no strategic or tactical alternatives that achieve a sustainable energy consumption trajectory that don’t include fundamental change in human settlement patterns. When people don’t conserve electricity, gas, and water they will waste more energy and continue to affect this problem. Leaving lights turned on, leaving appliances plugged in, and cooking on electric stoves are all examples on how humans affect the conservation of energy. Some people car pool and this conserves gas and helps eliminate air pollution that is caused from automobiles.
Another positive human impact is when humans conserve energy then they will save money on many resources that they need to survive. People buy energy efficient appliances to save money on their utility bills and this will help conserve energy, but if they over use these appliances it will waste energy. If everyone is more careful on what they use they will conserve energy and eliminate the unnecessary pollution caused from wasting it. There are current sustainability strategies and solutions for energy conservation. For example, The U. S.
Department of Energy’s Building America residential systems research project uses an analysis-based systems research approach to identify research priorities, identify technology gaps and opportunities, establish a consistent basis to track research progress, and identify system solutions that are most likely to succeed as the initial targets for residential system research projects. This report describes the analytical approach used by the program to determine the most cost- effective pathways to achieve whole-house energy-saving goals.
The objectives of this research project are to develop integrated energy-efficient and on-site/renewable power solutions that can be successfully used on a production basis to reduce whole-house energy use in new homes by an average of 50% by 2015 and an average of 100% by 2020. There are many paths to seeking and achieving energy sustainability in facilities. Technology permits a facility owner and operator to receive, manage, conserve, use and produce energy in a manner that would not have been possible in the past.
The time and costs demands of arranging for, and cooperating with, an energy audit stand in the path of a wider expansion. Another problem is the difficulty of changing methods of operation and retraining personnel. The other problems are the lack of compensation incentives, the real complexity of making changes, and the difficulty of determining the cost of implementing measures or seeking renewable energy as compared to continuing to use existing sources. This is why changes made are often limited to those that produce benefits at modest cost, such as purchasing a small amount of green energy or installing retrofit lighting.
My plan to reach sustainability for energy conservation: Action Items| Action Plan| Timeline| Research and identify the causes and effects of energy conservation. | Review environmental web sites and journals. Document the sources for wasting and conserving energy. Watch videos related to energy conservation. | Month 1-3| Develop a program that influences and teaches how to conserve energy. | Create a presentation about how and why this program will be beneficial and explain how you plan to address this issue. Month 1-3| Schedule a presentation day and time. | Document the audio and visual equipment for presentation and layout of the room. Attend a monthly HOA meeting to present the benefits of my program. Request the HOA board add the presentation to the following month’s agenda to allow enough time for the word to get out and so people will attend my presentation. | Month 4| Identify and invite community members. | Post messages on the internet and send out invitations to the community to welcome them to see my plan on how to help conserve energy. | Month 4-5 |
There will be different benefits and challenges for my plan for energy conservation. The benefits are that I will teach the community about the pros and cons for energy conservation. I will submit my plan on ways to reduce the use of energy resources and show how it can eliminate pollution. I will also explain on how to reuse energy and how this saves all of us money. I will inform and educate the community on the issue with energy conservation and will now know on what they can do to eliminate the problem. Another benefit will be that if we conserve energy and it will save us money.
We should also use natural lighting instead of electricity all of the time because this will also conserve energy. There will also be many challenges with my plan. For example, if people don’t do their part then the cost of energy will continue to rise and energy will continue to be wasted. We need to raise money for the plan on conserving energy and the way the current economy is today this can be an issue. We also need to make sure that enough people participate in order to resolve the issue with energy conservation.
This issue will take time, money, and effort to be successful. If we do all of the little things like turn lights off, car pool, recycle, reduce, reuse, and keep unused appliances unplugged this can make a huge difference and it won’t cost money to do. My plan will motivate people to address these issues and explain the benefits that we will receive from doing as much as possible. We should also educate our youth so they can make a difference in conserving energy and saving the environment.
The required government, societal, and global support that I will need to make my plan effective would be grants and funding from the government to resolve and help with the issues of energy conservation. The society is required to contribute by doing the little things like buying energy efficient products and conserving their energy usage. The global support that I will need is for scientists and journalists to inform everyone about the cause and effects for energy conservation. Environmental Scientists are continuing to develop plans and strategies to help conserve energy.
People should also consider buying fuel efficient automobiles to help conserve gas and energy. The community needs to recycle to eliminate pollution and help conserve energy by reusing products. Another idea is to reduce the amount of appliances we use in our homes to reduce the amount of energy being used up. We should also refrain from using automobiles when we can walk sometimes to closer areas to conserve gas and energy. The government should consider making more programs that will help protect the environment and teach our youth on how important it is to conserve energy.
If we all do our part and contribute, we can all make a difference and save the environment from pollution and wasted energy. The environment is important to all of the plants, animals, and even humans because we live there and get many of our resources from there. We need to maintain the environment to save the earth and make it a better place for everyone. I believe that these issues will be resolved in the near future because there are many people that want to save the environment.
We can take it a day at a time and hope that it gets better for the sake of all living species. Energy conservation is a key element in saving the environment. Remember the three key words reduce, reuse, and recycle and you will make an impact on the environment. Reference List: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Energy_conservation * Gary Steffy, Architectural Lighting Design, John Wiley and Sons (2001) ISBN 0-471-38638-3 * Lumina Technologies, Analysis of energy consumption in a San Francisco Bay Area research office complex, for (confidential) owner, Santa Rosa, Ca.
May 17, 1996 * GSA paves way for IT-based buildings [3] * The official homepage for the European Intelligent Metering project http://www. greenm3. com/2008/05/economist-artic. html http://www. elasmo-research. org/education/white_shark/life. htm http://www. baconsrebellion. com/Issues07/10-29/Risse. php ASHRAE Transactions; 2006, Vol. 112 Issue 2, p330-341, 12p Anderson, Ren1 Christensen, Craig2 Horowitz, Scott Sustainable Facility; Dec2007, Vol. 32 Issue 11, p28-29, 2p Funk Jr. , Peter
